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After falling in the championship game of the Atlantic Sun conference tournament, the freshman season for North Florida's Garrett Sams, a Westview graduate, came to an end.

Sams felt that he grew as a player during this past season and is ready for the the next three years with the Ospreys.

"I learned how much of a grind college basketball is, how much work really goes into it," Sams said. "There is a lot more scouting and a lot more preparation that goes into it. It takes a lot of work to prepare yourself for the bigger competition."

Sams also gives gives credit to his teammates for helping him get to this point as a freshman.

"My best friend on the team is Aaron Bodager," Sams said. "He is a fifth-year senior, as he tore his ACL his freshman year. He really took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. We are both wings, and we are both shooters. He has helped me grow.

"Nick Malonga was always encouraging me and telling me to keep doing me even though I kind of took his spot. I also go and shoot a lot with Dallas Moore."

The Ospreys lost some key pieces from last year's team that reached the conference title game. They took some losses early this year, but they seemed to peak at the right time, getting back to the Atlantic Sun title game for the third straight year.

"We did lose a lot, but we also played seven high-major to start the year off, so that didn't make things any easier," Sams said. "We peaked in the conference tournament. We finished third, but we swept the second-place team [Lipscomb University] three times this year. We almost beat the champion Florida-Gulf Coast at our place, but we lost by four. We just blew a couple games against teams from the bottom of the conference that we shouldn't have lost. That hurt out seeding."

But being a No. 3 seed meant that Sams got to play in the conference semifinals in his home state with former teammates and coaches there to watch.

"That was great to see them there," he said. "They didn't get to come the first time I played at Lipscomb because they were still in season. So to play in front of family, friends and coaches there meant a lot. They are a lot of the reason that I am at the point I am in my basketball career because of the time they put into me."

North Florida finished the season with a 15-19 record and an 8-6 mark in Atlantic Sun play.

North Florida's Garrett Sams (right) says he is optimistic about the potential of the program. "I feel like if we work at it, good things will happen," Sams said.(Photo: Nick Lisi, AP)

Sams got his first start of the season in the 10th game on the schedule against Syracuse, and he never gave up that starting spot.

"I feel my game overall has developed this year," Sams said. "I am a better decision maker. I grew more comfortable on offense and knowing my surroundings with where people are going to be."

North Florida did play some of the top NCAA schools like Auburn, Florida, LSU, Arkansas and UConn, but Syracuse in the Carrier Dome was his favorite place to play.

"The Carrier Dome was the coolest one," Sams said. "That was my first start, and it was on my birthday. The history in that arena, the fact that Carmelo [Anthony]'s jersey is retired in there and playing against a coach like Jim Boeheim was pretty cool."

Those games though meant lots of time traveling, but that didn't seem to bother Sams.

"Traveling was fun," Sams said. "I didn't realize how much travel there was. Sometimes we are flying out at 5 in the morning to go to Arkansas, we are in Arkansas for two days and then we are flying at 4 in the morning to go to Texas. We played Rio Grande two days later. Basketball can take you all over the country if you let it and work hard.

"Syracuse was a fun trip too. We played Florida on Dec. 1, and then we flew out to New York to play Syracuse on that Saturday."

Sams doesn't have a crystal ball to know exactly what the future holds at North Florida, but he is optimistic about the potential of the program.

"I feel like if we work at it, good things will happen," Sams said. "We have to take care of what we need to take care of."

Reach Michael Odom at michodom@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9754. Follow him on Twitter @JSWriterMichael.